"A Matter Of Life And Death: Americans Will Be Without Medicine Once Trade With China Stops'

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"A Matter Of Life And Death: Americans Will Be

 Without Medicine Once Trade With China Stops'

by Epic Economist

"A serious conflict between the U.S. and China is brewing, and if you're against it, you must make your voice heard while you still can because once it starts, it will be too late. Geopolitical strategists are already alerting that if tensions between the U.S. and China continue to rise, the standard of living of millions upon millions of Americans will be seriously impacted as the overwhelming majority of products we consume every day that come from the Eastern economic superpower would quickly disappear from U.S. store shelves. At the same time, the confrontation between the Chinese government and Taiwan means that the production of critical components such as semiconductors and microchips would dramatically collapse. Today, Taiwan is the biggest producer of microchips in the entire world, and if this production stops, the whole U.S. economy would come to a crashing halt. The stakes are incredibly high, and yet, no one seems to be paying attention to these emerging threats.

Nancy Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan triggered a furious response from China at a time when international tensions already are elevated by Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine. The Chinese government promptly warned that there would be a military response, and now the entire globe is anxious to see what that will be. The latest reports reveal that Chinese forces are already gathering near the coast for a potential invasion, but there’s still uncertainty over a full-blown aggression against Taiwan. Strategists argue that instead of launching an attack overnight, China is far more likely to overtake a couple of the small islands right off the Chinese coast that currently belong to Taiwan.

And if that’s the case, the Biden administration would feel compelled to respond very aggressively. Right now, both sides keep raising the stakes, which means that tensions could escalate into a full-blown conflict in the Pacific very rapidly. And once a geopolitical battle begins, our trading relationship with China would immediately come to a halt. Needless to say, the American population is not prepared for that. A clash of such immense proportions would hurt our economy very badly in countless ways. A very worrying consequence this conflict might bring is a widespread shortage of medicine.

Rep. Bill Posey noted that “eighty percent of the drugs that Americans depend on come from overseas. China, whose pharmaceuticals have been subject to numerous recalls, is the largest manufacturer. As a result of this reliance, the U.S. has not produced basic medicines like in the case of penicillin since 2004.”

Rosemary Gibson, a senior adviser with the Hastings Center and an author of “China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine,” said in an interview with the New York Times that “if China shut the door on exports of core components to make our medicines, within months our pharmacy shelves would become bare and our health care system would cease to function.”

That’s a very alarming possibility, especially considering that things are escalating quickly. All Americans are equally vulnerable to illness — that’s why we all should be equally concerned about a looming medicine shortage. Tens of millions of Americans are dependent on pharmaceutical substances, and if they can’t get their pills, their lives would be at risk. Now, all of these people are at risk of being left without the critical medications they need to maintain their health. Unfortunately, that’s only one of the consequences a conflict with China would bring.

If the two biggest economic superpowers of the world start battling each other, the whole planet would suffer the repercussions of this cataclysmic conflict. Americans would experience a horrifying and widespread supply chain collapse that's unlike anything they have ever seen. The risks are still growing, and we would like to advise you to pay very close attention to what happens next."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/